“Aging,” i.e. the process of growing old, can be, and often is, accompanied by a host of negative as well as positive issues. One very significant positive issue is freedom. Freedom from a boring or unpleasant work or career when retirement is finally obtained. Freedom from responsibility of child rearing, or from caring for elderly parents who have passed on. “Freedom” is a relative term of course since any responsible person knows that certain obligations never really go away. If reasonably good health and adequate finances are present, aging into the so-called ‘golden years’ can be a wonderful time of creativity and adventure with [typically] less responsibilities. A “twenty-something” recently said to me that she could ‘not wait to retire so that I can sleep all day.’ Perhaps she was seriously sleep deprived. But many ‘golden years’ are not so golden after all, if there are serious or at least significant health issues, physical or mental. We all know by experience, that it is sometimes quite difficult to endure chronic pain, and such an unwelcome intrusion into our life can sour our spirit and make it difficult to maintain positive relationships with friends and family and sometimes even with God. Sometimes a stroke or other attack of our mental acuity and competence can sabotage our spiritual growth, our overall functioning and our relationships with others including those closest to us.
Spiritual and emotional wisdom we may have failed to learn while younger due to the ignorance of its value, or our lack of the desire or discipline needed to acquire it, makes spiritual and emotional growth very difficult if not impossible once we have reached a certain level of mental/emotional decline. In other words, a more-or-less point of ‘no return’ may befall us, crippling our ability to mature further in our Christian life.
Loss of health is not the only hazard affecting our spiritual life. With time, I suggest we tend to become hardened in our beliefs and convictions. Becoming ‘firm’ [hardened] sounds like a positive trait, but only if what we believe is in fact true, and we express our views in a gracious way. A ‘strong conviction’ may be evidence of merely our insecure bias, or an erroneous belief proudly but ignorantly held, since abandoning a certain belief may be too scary if it is something wrongly believed for a long time. So, stubborn beliefs perhaps disguised as a conviction are particularly dangerous as we age, since we may become unteachable [‘stiff-necked’ to use a biblical term [Acts 7:51]
Sometimes the hazard of disinterest affects us since we may view life as ‘been there done that’ and not much triggers our interest any more, including church gatherings and related spiritual disciplines, such as serious bible reading/study and focused prayer. Our attention span may decline with age resulting in the same disinterest.
In some ways it seems to me that the ‘hazards of aging’ can be resisted to only some degree, in-the-midst-of our latter years of aging. Surely a more substantial investment of time in ‘pre-aging’ is a better preparation. Serious growth in the spiritual/emotional components of our being while younger may well enable us to ‘bank’ in advance so to speak, or ‘store up’ character growth to enable us to better face what may turn out to be some very difficult and tarnished ‘golden years.’ Admittedly, it may be that a loss of mental competency may partly or fully sabotage our prior years of pre-aging growth of our soul and spirit due to our mind no longer functioning properly. But it still seems foolhardy to me to not prepare at all. “One does what one can” seems to apply here, suggesting we pursue at any age those spiritual experiences and disciplines that promote growth of our heart and character. Doing otherwise is to play Russian roulette with our soul.
Regardless of your age, are you ‘investing’ now in the growth of your soul/spirit so that you will more likely have a renewed mind and character [Romans 12:1-2] that will help equip you to endure and navigate some of the hazards of aging, as well as the hazards of life itself, in the interim?
CJS
“Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?” [Luke 6:46]
So good. It’s FUN to read that & hear your voice, be encouraged by your smiling eyes I see in my mind, & be able to trust His Spirit with you, Curt. A hard heart & a seared conscience is a fearful anti-treasure as I’ve learned well that the worst thing the Lord could give me is my own way.. EAGER to connect with you as the Lord allows us to travel to Tulsa in His time, my friend!
Interesting and true. We grow in mental and spiritual l wisdom as we get older. I agree that building flexibility of character is very important. Certainly growing old is not for the weak and requires strength of character and the desire to continue to learn. Continuing to learn is an essential important element as we continue to age.
Great thoughts : Thanks.
Mona Mange
When we are young, we so seldom consider what life will be like when we are old. Yet, “if we live long enough” we will grow old. As you so wisely stated, we must prepare for old age as we are moving in that direction. Often, once we have arrived there, preparation is no longer an option. I am thankful that as I have walked this path toward old age, God has kept me aware of the lessons that I need to learn – sometimes through my own experience and sometimes by observing others. By God’s grace, old age allows us to share that wisdom with others. Therefore, we need to be developing that wisdom as we travel life’s highway, picking up those nuggets of insight so that we will have something of value to share in our golden years.
Thanks Dan for your comment. So true that it is very difficult to try and play catch up regarding our character when we are older if we failed to do so when we were younger.
What an encouragement! Thank you. Kevin